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This Week in Health & Medicine

24th March 2017

In this Monday, Jan. 30, 2017, photo, Ashley Grant sits on a swing near her home in Bridgeton, N.J. Drug addicts caught up in the nation's opioid-abuse crisis are worried about what will happen if the Trump administration makes good on its vow to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Grant, a recovering heroin addict is hoping to regain custody of her three children. "They should make it easier for people with addiction to get insurance," she said. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Aaron van Dorn

New York office, The Lancet

This week in health and medicine news from The Lancet USA, the fate of the American Health Care Act remains in the balance, Illinois is considering legalizing recreational marijuana, and a study suggests nearly two thirds of cancers are caused by random DNA replication errors.

With AHCA Fate Still in the Air, GOP Turns to Essential Health Benefits

As Republican House leadership scrambled from Wednesday night into Friday morning to craft a Affordable Care Act replacement bill that could win support from the most conservative members of the caucus, they began looking at rolling back an often overlooked aspect of the ACA: essential health benefits. The ACA guarantees a list of ten essential policy coverage that insurance plans sold to small groups and individuals must cover, including things like maternity and child care costs, prescription drugs, hospital stays and preventative care. Members of the House Freedom Caucus would like to see these requirements removed, but what that means for more moderate members of the Republican caucus remains unclear. Also unclear is how repeal of essential benefits, which does not directly affect the budget of the ACA, would be able to pass through the Senate via the reconciliation process. (STAT)

Illinois Considers Legalizing Recreational Marijuana

While the state of state-level marijuana laws remain unclear under new Attorney General Jefferson Sessions, some Illinois lawmakers are forging ahead with a proposal to legalize regulated businesses to produce and sell marijuana, and for individuals to possess up to 28 grams of marijuana for personal use. The proposed legisliation would levee a $50 per ounce tax on wholesale sales, and a standard 6.5% sales tax on retail sales. The legislation is unlikely to come up for a vote this year. (Chicago Tribune)

Two Thirds of Cancer Attributed to DNA Mistakes

A new study in Science suggests that nearly two thirds of cancers are caused not by heredity or environmental factors, but by random mistakes in DNA caused by replication errors. The study found that 66% of cancers were caused by random DNA error, 29% by environmental factors like lifestyle and smoking, and only 5% by inherited factors. Some cancers, however, were much more likely to be attributable to the DNA replication error factor, as much as 95% for cancers such as prostate or brain. Other cancers, such as lung, were much more likely (65%) to be attributable to environmental factors. (Live Science)

Doctor Details Potential Treatment for Sepsis

An intensive care doctor in Norfolk, Virginia, Dr. Paul Marik, has proposed a potential treatment for sepsis. Marik adapted the technique from a study that suggested intravenous vitamin C might be of use for a patient when all other treatments had failed. He also added corticosteroids and thiamine to the mix, and found that the patient made a quick recovery. He says that of 47 sepsis patients he has treated with the technique, all but four recovered, and those four eventually died of their underlying conditions. The treatment needs further validation, but Marik is hopeful that the technique can help reduce the 300,000 Americans who die from sepsis each year (NPR)

Pharmacist Convicted of Racketeering, But Not Guilty of Murder in 2012 Meningitis Outbreak

Barry Cadden, pharmacist and owner of New England Compounding Center, has been found guilty of racketeering and mail fraud, in a case involving a nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis. He was found not guilty of the twenty-two counts of second degree murder. Over 700 people were infected with fungal meningitis after using steroids manufactured at Cadden’s compounding pharmacy. Cadden was accused of using expired ingredients and issuing drugs that had not been confirmed sterile. (CNN)

Male Fertility Test? There’s an App for That

Several competing smartphone-based male at-home fertility tests are working their way towards consumers, allowing men for the first time to easily and privately test their fertility rates. The devices consist of a base that your smartphone slides into, essentially turning the phone’s camera into a microscope, and a disposable microchip that you dip into a semen sample, and insert it into the base. Unlike other current FDA-approved at-home male fertility tests, it counts both the number of sperm cells present, as well as the percentage of them that move. The creators claim an accuracy rate in the mid-90s for both devices, and they hope to expand the abilities to other tests. (The Verge)